The Physician to the President (also known colloquially as the White House doctor) is the formal and official title of the physician who is director of the White House Medical Unit, a unit of the White House Military Office responsible for the medical needs of the President of the United States, Vice President, White House staff, and visitors. The Physician to the President is also the Chief White House Physician.
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History
Doctors who have treated the President of the United States have had a variety of titles. Dr. Presley Marion Rixey, a Medical Inspector in the United States Navy, was the first individual to serve in a full-time capacity as physician to the President beginning in 1901, although the title "White House Physician" was not used until created by an act of Congress in 1928.
Organization and role
The White House physician has an office inside the White House. The location of his or her medical unit plays an important role in keeping the President of the United States healthy. He or she also oversees a staff which is typically composed of five military physicians, five nurses, five physician assistants, three medics, three administrators and one IT Manager. The White House Physician is metaphorically the "shadow of the President" because he or she is always close at hand whether the President is at the White House, overseas, on the campaign trail, or aboard presidential plane Air Force One. The Physician to the President protects the president's health and may also perform emergency surgery.
The White House doctor is also responsible for providing comprehensive medical care to the members of the president's immediate family, the Vice President, and the Vice President's family. He or she may also provide medical care and attention to the more than 1.5 million visitors who tour the White House each year, as well as to international dignitaries and other guests of the President.
The medical office of the White House doctor is a "mini urgent-care center" containing a physician's office, private examination rooms, basic medications and medical supplies, and a crash cart for emergency resuscitation. Air Force One is equipped with emergency medical equipment, an operating table, and operating room lights installed at the center of the presidential plane for emergency use by the White House doctor, but does not have an X-ray machine or medical laboratory equipment.
Daniel Ruge, Ronald Reagan's first physician in the White House, resigned after the president's first term and called his job "vastly overrated, boring and not medically challenging." Ruge could not attend most state dinners due to lack of space. He nonetheless had to be ready for emergencies, and usually waited alone in his office wearing a tuxedo. Ruge stated that an advantage, however, was that because of the position's prestige "[a] president's physician can ask for anything, and he will get it. No doctor will refuse a request to consult."
Selection of the physician
The White House Physician is often selected personally by the President, and most White House doctors are active-duty military officers, in part because most civilians would find closing then reopening their private practices difficult.
As of March 2016, Rear Admiral (lower half) Ronny Jackson, MD, USN, is the incumbent White House doctor.
White House physicians
Some of the individuals who have acted as White House physicians: